Coin sorting machine



M y 1937. J. E. RASMUSEN ET AL 2,080,389.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NE 'Filed Dec. 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSJESSE E. fP/ISMUSE/V. L/Y/P/ST/A/V fl. LAl/SE/V.

' 7- ATTORNEYS May 11, 1937. J, EN ET L 2,080,389

COIN SORTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lAVf/Vfd/PIPASMl/SEN, cw/P/sr/A/v 0.111035.

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1-33. COIN HANDLING and/or wrapping mechanism.

Patented May 11, 1937 PATENT OFFICE com soarnvo MACHINE Jesse E.Rasmusen and Christian A. Lausen, Fort Worth, Tex.; said Lausen assignorto said Rasmusen Application December 21, 1931, Serial No. 582,198

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for sorting coins.

It is one object of this invention to provide a coin-sorting machinehaving rotating means for sorting coins of different denominationdelivered thereto from a hopper.

Another object is to provide a coin-sorting machine having a hopper withan inclined bottom, a rotating distributing disc with a plurality ofradially directed coin slots and a stationary member formed to cooperatewith the rotating disc to urge the coins to enter the coin slots.

Another object is to provide a coin-sorting machine, as previouslydescribed, wherein several spring fingers engage the coins to urge themin the direction of sorting, as into coin chutes.

These and other advantages will appear from the following descriptiontaken in connection' with the drawings.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is an auxiliary view of the top of the coin-sorting machineshowing the coin hopper with the coin sorting disc and othermechanismlocated therein for separating the coins and feeding them to differentchutes.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the coin-sorting machine shown in Figure1.

Figure 3 is a central section through the coinsorting machine of Figure1, taken along the line 33 in an inclined plane passing through the axisof the central shaft.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the coinsorting machine of ourinvention is shown as consisting of a device which may be used either byitself or in conjunction with coin counting In any of these cases themachine is driven by a motor (not shown) which supplies power to themain driving shaft 13 to give it a suitable speed of rotation.

The main driving shaft I3 is rotatably supported by means of a bearingI4 in one end of a base plate I5. The latter is attached by means ofstuds I6 and I! to' a plate I8 supported by posts I9 upon the main baseof the machine (not shown). This plate I8 is supported in an inclinedposition, as shown in Figure 2. Around the upper edge of the plate I8 isa ring 20, which has attached to it and to the plate a hopper 2I bymeans of brackets 22 and screws 23. These screws serve to hold thehopper and the ring on the plate.

On the end of the main driving shaft I3 adjacent the plate I5 is a gear24, which has integral therewith a clutch member 25. The gear 24 and theclutch member 25 freely rotate upon the shaft I3. Located intermediatethe stud I6, which is adjacent the periphery of the plate I8 and thestud I1, which is at the center of the plate I8, is a gear 26 rotatablymounted on the stub shaft 21 secured to the plate I8. This gear 26meshes with the gear 24 and a gear 28 supported on the central stud IT.

The gear 28 imparts rotation to a shaft 29 which extends through asuitable opening in the plate I8, and has adjacent its upper end a largedisc 30 adapted to rotate within the hopper and the ring 20. On theextreme upper end of the shaft 29 is a small retaining disc 3I, whichhas between it and the rotatable disc 30 a thin stationary disc 32 withone side out therefrom.

The stationary disc 32 has a hole 33 therein, as shown in Figure 1,adapted to receive the end of the spring finger 39 described below. Thestationary disc 32 is held in rigid position with relation to the hopperand the plate I8 by means of a support 34, which additionally serves asa scraper for the removal of surplus coins from the rotating disc 39attached by a screw at one end to the hopper and at the other end to thedisc 32. The thin disc 32 is of such thinness that the uppermost of twoof the thinnest coins, if superimposed in one of the radial slotsdescribed below, will project slightly above the edge of the disc 32 soas to be engaged and wiped off by the scraper 34. Suitably attached tothe plate I8 and the ring 29 is a stiff, heavy plate 35, as shown inFigure 1.

Extending from the plate 35, adjacent the ring 29, is a spring finger36, while a similar finger 31 projects from the other end of the plate35. There is also attached to' the inner end of the plate 35, adjacentthe finger 31, one end. of an arcuate arm 38, to the other end of whicharm a spring finger 39 is attached. This arcuate arm I has a set screw40 with a locknut, adjustable therein, for engagement with thestationary disc 32 to hold the latter against the rotating disc 33.

The disc 39, rotated by the shaft 29, has around its periphery aplurality of radially extending slots which provide seats for coins ofdifferent sizes. Near the periphery of the disc is a quarter seat 4I.Adjacent this quarter seat and nearer the center of the disc is a nickelseat 42, and still nearer the center of the disc, in the same slot, is apenny seat 43, while-still nearer is a seat for dimes, not shown, butsimilar to each of the other seats. There is therefore provided in eachradially extending slot four seats for coins, arranged from theperiphery inwardly in the following order: Quarters, nickels, penniesand dimes.

During operation, due to the tilted arrangement of the apparatus (Figure2), the coins slide downwardly under the influence of gravity and dropinto the quarter seats 4| at the outer ends of the slots, near the loweredge of the hopper, between the wall of the hopper 2I and the edge ofthe disc 32 (Figure 1). As'the disc 30 rotates in a counterclockwisedirection, the coins in the quarter seats 4| of the slots are movedupwardly in the beneath the disc 32.

hopper. As the upwardly moving coins pass beyond a horizontal linethrough the center of the shaft 29 (Figure 1) the scraper 34 will removethe surplus coins. The latter will slide downwardly across the disc 32to the bottom of the hopper, and excepting the quarters, the coinsremaining in the slots will roll, under the force of gravity, from thequarter seats 4| at the outer ends of the slots, into the space beneaththe stationary disc 32 and continue radially toward the center of thedisc.

As will be evident from Figures 1 and 3, the depth of each slot isgoverned by the thickness of the rotatable disc 3|], and the closeengagement therewith of the stationary disc 32 is insuflicient to permitthe passage of more than one coin into the space beneath the disc 32,and as previously stated, the scraper 34 has removed surplus coinstherefrom. The smallest coins will move to the innermost positions, ordime seats, in the slots, the next larger coins will come to rest in thepenny seats 43, the next larger coins in the nickel seats 42, and thelargest coins will remain in the quarter seats 4|. In order to insurethat the coins will be properly arranged in the slots, and I to preventsmall coins from discharging into larger outlets, the outlets for thecoins are arranged in staggered sequence so that the smaller holes areencountered before those of the larger coins, with the result that thesmall coins have been disposed of before the large outlets are reachedby the rotating slots.

Any coin lying on top of another coin in the slot will merely be fendedoff by the scraper 34 or by the disc 32 as the coin in the slot slidesbeneath them. The fended-oil coins will slide downwardly, under theinfluence of gravity, until they drop into the quarter seats 4| near thebottom edge of the hopper 2|. As each coin lies on an inclined plane,its weight will produce a force having both horizontal and verticalcomponents, causing it to tend to pass into a flat position in its slotby the time it has reached the upper point, where the coins smaller thanquarters have to pass In the infrequent case when a coin remains tiltedin its seat until it rides up to the top of its path of motion, no harmwould be done because the tilted coin would then merely slide down pastthe cutaway edge of the stationary disc 32, and would be guided by thiscutaway edge into another slot. The cutaway edge of the disc thus notonly assists in guiding coins into the slots, but also prevents suchcoins from entering the laterally located quarter and nickel outlets 44before making a complete cycle of the apparatus.

The coins located in the hopper will seat themselves in the slots and bearranged therein according to their sizes in the seats providedtherefor. and in order to assist in arranging the coins in their properseats the disc 32 is provided, and for forcing the coins other than thequarters through the slots, as the disc 30 rotates, the fingers 36, 31,and 39 are provided. The tip ends of these fingers are locatedimmediately above holes 44 in the plate l8, these holes leading to thecoin chutes described below. As the disc 30 rotates, with the coins inthe slots, the fingers 36, 31, and 39 will force the coins other thanthe quarters through the holes 44 into the respective chutes beneath theholes 44.

From each of these holes 44 extends a downwardly inclined chute. Thechute extending from the quarter hole is indicated by the numeral 45;that extending from the nickel hole is indicated by the numeral 46; thatfrom the penny hole is indicated by the numeral 41 while the dime chuteis indicated by the numeral 48. Each chute terminates at its lower endin any suitable container (not shown) or may discharge its coins into acoin counting and/or wrapping apparatus, as desired.

In order to cause the gear 24 to be selectively rotated by the shaft |3or to be held motionless, as desired, there is provided a clutchmechanism, operated by a clutch rod 5|, which terminates in a clutchring 52. Extending from this clutch ring is a plurality of fingers 53,which have bentin ends fitting in a groove 54 in a clutch member 55. Thelatter cooperates with the clutch 25 for rotating the gear 24 andconsequently the gear 28 by which the disc 30 is rotated.

In the operation of the machine, the main driving shaft is rotated bystarting the motor. When it is desired to rotate the disc 3| so as tosort the coins which are placed in the hopper, the clutch rod 5| ispushed up so that the clutch member 55 engages the clutch member 25. Bythis means the rotation of the shaft I3 is transmitted through theclutch and the plurality of gears supported by the plate |5 to the disc30 located within the hopper. When it is desired to disconnect the disc30 from the shaft |3 the clutch rod 5| is pulled down, thereby removingthe clutch member 55 from engagement with the clutch member 25.

It will be understood that we desire to comprehend within our inventionsuch modifications as come within the scope of our claims and ourinvention.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a coin sorting machine, a tilted hopper having a stationary baseplate with coin outlet apertures of various sizes for differentdenominations of coins, a rotatable driving member, a rotating disc onsaid driving member having slots, the sides of which are formed intocoin guiding cam surfaces for guiding coins on the surface of thestationary base plate to the coin selector apertures therein, and astationary disc over said rotating disc adapted to cover the centralportion thereof, said coin outlet apertures being arranged at differentradial distances from the axis of rotation of said driving member.

2. In a coin sorting machine, a coin hopper having an inclined bottomwith a plurality of discharge openings therein, a disc mounted forrotation on said bottom, said disc having a plurality of radiallydisposed slots therein with seats for receiving coins of different sizesand for assisting in conveying them to the opening according to size, astationary disc-shaped member formed to cooperate with the rotatabledisc and the inclined bottom to cause the coins to travel singly in saidslots between said stationary disc and said inclined bottom to saiddischarge openings, said stationary disc being of less size than therotatable disc and cut away at one part, and means acting on the coinsin the cut-away part of the stationary disc to expel certain of thecoins.

JESSE E. RASMUSEN. CHRISTIAN A. LAUSEN.

